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New article in Guitar World: The secrets of GN'R's overlooked albums


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1 hour ago, GNRfanJen said:

Great read! I really enjoy both TSI and Live Era. I have to say though, it's pretty funny how there was no mention of the fact that much of Live Era was re-recorded, lol. 

It's funny that, although this is considered to be common knowledge among the fan base, it's never been confirmed by an official source. I think it's never even been addressed in a press piece. Slash was involved in putting together and mixing Live Era, and he sounded very pleased with it when it was released (and later), raving about how it captured the raw live spirit of the band. You would think that he wouldn't have praised it so much had he believed it was heavily manipulated in the studio. Reading what engineer Jim Mitchell says in the article about how difficult it was to record Axl's live vocals because he was running around, I'm thinking that maybe the vocal overdubs were a necessity, not a creative choice.

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1 hour ago, Blackstar said:

It's funny that, although this is considered to be common knowledge among the fan base, it's never been confirmed by an official source. I think it's never even been addressed in a press piece. Slash was involved in putting together and mixing Live Era, and he sounded very pleased with it when it was released (and later), raving about how it captured the raw live spirit of the band. You would think that he wouldn't have praised it so much had he believed it was heavily manipulated in the studio. Reading what engineer Jim Mitchell says in the article about how difficult it was to record Axl's live vocals because he was running around, I'm thinking that maybe the vocal overdubs were a necessity, not a creative choice.

could be, but most live albums go through some kind of treatment in the studio and some of Axl's creative choices on other projects do support the possibility the Live Era vocal overdubs were done cause Axl wanted it to sound a certain way. Maybe he missed the point of the "live" album.

there are many vocal overdubs that make it sound fake and unrepresentative of the live sound of the band imo and it extends beyond just the vocals. Other changes were made as well so I don't know if altering it to that extent was required if the goal was to just fix legitimate potential problems with the original performances like issues that stemmed from Axl running around.

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11 hours ago, Voodoochild said:

Thought it was kinda hard to read the whole article on my screen (getting older sucks), but I do think TSI is an underrated album even with the fans. And outside the fanbase, mostly because the single Since I Don't Have You gave the wrong impression.

I have added transcript of the article here:

https://www.a-4-d.com/t5013-2020-09-dd-guitar-world-the-secrets-of-gn-r-s-overlooked-albums

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13 hours ago, Voodoochild said:

Thought it was kinda hard to read the whole article on my screen (getting older sucks), but I do think TSI is an underrated album even with the fans. And outside the fanbase, mostly because the single Since I Don't Have You gave the wrong impression.

I actually love that song on TSI.  it shows Axl can sing almost anything.  He sounds great on it

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I can’t stand Axl’s re-recorded vocals on Live Era. Just sounds terrible where he’s done it. I’d rather have the original live singing. It irks me so much, I just can’t listen to the album. 

TSI on the other hand - It’s the best that UYI era GN’R sounded in the studio. And yeah, they totally should’ve released Ain’t It Fun as the main single and released a video to go with it. As good as SIDHY is, I don’t think it did the album promo any favours.

In the height of grunge, GN’R release a doo-wop cover as a lead single? No thanks! :facepalm::lol:

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Mad how opinion differs so much on the re-recorded Live Era vocals. For me, that showcases Axl at the very top of his game. If I ever want to listen to Appetite, I go for the versions on Live Era, vastly superior IMO - Rocket Queen is unbelievable, who’d have thought replacing a guitar with an organ could be so life changing 😂

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24 minutes ago, metallex78 said:

I can’t stand Axl’s re-recorded vocals on Live Era. Just sounds terrible where he’s done it. I’d rather have the original live singing. It irks me so much, I just can’t listen to the album. 

TSI on the other hand - It’s the best that UYI era GN’R sounded in the studio. And yeah, they totally should’ve released Ain’t It Fun as the main single and released a video to go with it. As good as SIDHY is, I don’t think it did the album promo any favours.

In the height of grunge, GN’R release a doo-wop cover as a lead single? No thanks! :facepalm::lol:

That album has some criminal mistakes, Rocket being top of the list in my opinion!! no 1, it sounds like it was a partial Axl overdub... and for some unknown reason there's no Izzy/Gilby guitar in the mix worth mentioning, especially on the outro... terrible version to choose! so many classic versions of that song live, and that was the one they chose??

Agreed with Ain't it fun! I love SIDHY but you are right, at that time when grunge was big like you said it just made them look even more out of touch! although Faith no more did the same with War pigs and Easy... so, maybe GNR thought it was more punk to release that, than release the obvious choice.... All I know is, Ain't it fun is great! That Black leather and hair of the dog!!

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53 minutes ago, metallex78 said:

I can’t stand Axl’s re-recorded vocals on Live Era. Just sounds terrible where he’s done it. I’d rather have the original live singing. It irks me so much, I just can’t listen to the album. 

TSI on the other hand - It’s the best that UYI era GN’R sounded in the studio. And yeah, they totally should’ve released Ain’t It Fun as the main single and released a video to go with it. As good as SIDHY is, I don’t think it did the album promo any favours.

In the height of grunge, GN’R release a doo-wop cover as a lead single? No thanks! :facepalm::lol:

It pretty hilarious when you think about it. A proper ‘we don’t give a fuck’ decision - regardless of if it harmed the sales or not. I think the bloody cover did more harm on that front....😂

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1 hour ago, metallex78 said:

I can’t stand Axl’s re-recorded vocals on Live Era. Just sounds terrible where he’s done it. I’d rather have the original live singing. It irks me so much, I just can’t listen to the album. 

TSI on the other hand - It’s the best that UYI era GN’R sounded in the studio. And yeah, they totally should’ve released Ain’t It Fun as the main single and released a video to go with it. As good as SIDHY is, I don’t think it did the album promo any favours.

In the height of grunge, GN’R release a doo-wop cover as a lead single? No thanks! :facepalm::lol:

I don't know. Rocket Queen turned out pretty good. Kinda sounded like 2006 Axl.

November Rain on the other hand, that's where Mickey showed up. I hate the Live Era version.

Estranged is a mess with Axl going from 90's Axl to CD demos Axl. That was some bad copy-pasting. 

My Michelle and Nightrain were okay if I recall.

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Quotes about the making of Live Era, taken from the related chapters of the history section at a-4-d.com (not made public on the site yet):

---------------------------

Mike Clink: "The [live] material is sitting in the can. Axl will be the one to make the [live] record happen ... it's all in the planning stages now." [Rolling Stone, November 14, 1998]

Bryn Bridenthal (Geffen/GnR publicist): "Axl can only do one thing at a time. When he focuses, he really focuses well, but he sometimes can't see outside the periphery of his laser." [Rolling Stone, November 14, 1998]

Slash's Official Fan Site: "Guns N'Roses will deliver a live album to fans in November! The album will most likely be a double one with 23 or 24 songs. Several different concerts were chosen, so that all the band incarnations from 1987 to 1992 could be included. SLASH did not do the selection, only the mixing. He told the people involved to bring what they had, and he and Andy Wallace would mix it. SLASH wasn't interested in going through the various versions of a song looking for the best one. All band members were in on the album in one way or another. Old songs like "Sweet Child O'Mine", "Welcome to the Jungle", "November Rain", "Estranged", "Mr. Brownstone", and the audience-participation song and only cover, "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" will all be a part of it. SLASH said that "Bad Apples" would be there, too. The shows used were Tokyo, Mexico City and Las Vegas." [Snakepit.org, July 1999]

Andy Wallace: "It definitely has a live feel, but it's well-recorded and well-played. They were great live and had a lot of concerts to work from." [Rolling Stone, September 2, 1999]

Tom Maher (Slash's manager 1995-2000): The guys started fooling around with this a few years ago, seeing if there was anything worth releasing. [...] Once the merger [between Interscope and Geffen Records] was over they started working on it again, and the guys sent tapes back and forth between the different camps. [...] I think Slash got involved because it's been so long since they had a record out. When you listen to these tapes, you just go, 'Oh man, they were a really good band.'" [Music News of the World, October 16, 1999]

Axl: "Del James worked for a couple of years off and on going though every single show we did on DAT tape from the "Use Your Illusion" tour and then every available tape, and finding tapes, and finding people that have recorded things, so he could have in his mind what was recorded best from the entire time Guns N' Roses was together. There were a lot of difficulties where things weren't... when they were recorded, when they were fully recorded to 24, 48 tracks, it wasn't recorded that well at times, and so it took a long time to find what tracks were available to use, because we had never officially recorded a show to make a live album." [MTV, November 8, 1999]

Slash: "Believe it or not, it's still a very mutual effort. All things considered, it's as close as we ever got. […] I have a standard for live records, because when I was a kid, I didn't have a lot of money, so rather than take my chances on buying a whole record based on songs that I liked or on hearsay about a great band, I'd always buy the live record. I think that's what established in my own subconscious what it was supposed to sound like. [...] And when I heard this one [Live Era], it was like very little post-production work -- almost none, because there's no one that's going to show up to do it! [Laughs] It's very honest, and it's like, 'What a f---ing bad ass band. It's one of the best live records I've ever heard. I'm proud of it.'" [Rolling Stone, October 1999]

Duff: "Let me explain this. At first Geffen Records was bought up. Axl, Slash, and I were still partners of GN'R. Seagram was buying up everything and put them together. Contract, master tapes, everything. I still had one live album to release in that contract. I had the tape in my hand, but I was expected that somebody will use the right. And now is the time. That's great. Me and Andy Wallace were in the studio and mixed the album every day in last August. He is great. Slash called me up and asked me how the sound like, because he was busy working on his record. This album is supposed to be sent to Axl. It's funny thing that guys from 'Universal/ Interscope' or something said they won't release the album unless I decide the title of the album. I said that's fine. I said 'You are the people who want to release the album.' But they were giving me mental pressure. [...] I told Izzy to check out mixing. 'You are in that album also. Come check it out.' He said, 'I might as well check it.'" [Burrn! Magazine (Japan), December 1999]

Slash: "Well, the concept of the live record came up and, from a business point of view, I know it was the record company trying to fill the quota for the simple fact that there's been no new, original material from the band since we all broke up. But as far as the 'band of old' is concerned, I'm always there to make sure that at least somebody's paying attention so things don't get messed up. Back then, we only had mobile [recording] trucks at certain shows, and we had some board tapes from '87 - like from when we played at the London Marquee, which was one of our first road trips that we ever took. So we just picked out like an average night's set list-those certain songs that we played all the time. [...] Once that was done, rather than sit there and analyze each individual take of a particular song, I just said, 'Just grab this song, this song, and this song from whatever shows you feel like,' because I wanted it to be as honest [a representation of the band] as possible. And I've never listened back to anything we've ever done after it was recorded and mixed, but [after listening to the tapes], I realized how good the band was. For the most part, it's one of our almost three-hours-long shows, just assembled from different places and different years. [...] I know there's three [songs from the Tokyo 1992 shows], but I don't know which ones they are. We didn't put any details on [the CD]. I know there are songs that were recorded in Las Vegas, Minneapolis, England, Japan, but I don't know which ones. There's a photo inside [the CD sleeve] from Tokyo Dome too." [Player Magazine (Japan), March 2000]

Anonymous source: "It was all very odd. Slash and Duff would get together and work on it, and Axl would be sent CDs. He never came to the studio when they were there. It was done in shifts." [Rolling Stone, May 11, 2000]

Slash: "[The album is] not pretty, and there are a lot of mistakes. But this is Guns N' Roses, not the fucking Mahavishnu Orchestra. It's as honest as it gets. All the other bands in the mid Eighties were trying to have Top 40 hits—even bands like Motley Crue. We didn't care about that. We just wanted to kick some ass." [Guitar World, January 2000]

Slash: "Even though I wasn’t in the band anymore, I was there for the mixing, just to make sure it was as honest a representation of GNR live as I thought it should be." [The Boston Globe, August 4, 2000]

Slash: "As far as I'm concerned, the cool thing about it was that it sounds good and it's real. Everything they did after that was between Ax and Interscope and all the kind of s--t, as far as shoving it down the toilet [=not promoting it properly] is concerned. It would have been great if Guns, at that particular point in time, was together and we were touring. That album would have been amazingly huge but there was no reality to that so I mean, how to work a Guns N' Roses record when the band's not together and Axl's on some trip-- I can't really give you an answer." [Toronto Sun, August 14, 2000]

Slash: "The live record was cool. It was one of those things that came out of nowhere and I got involved with it because, regardless of any kind of, you know, rumoured animosity having to do with myself and the Guns guys, that's still my family, that’s where I came from. So when I heard that that was going to happen, I got into the whole mixing of it and all that kind of stuff. I was surprised we were as good a band as we were! (laughs) I was sort of amazed! But it's a really good honest representation of our shows. That's like about as in-your-face, blatant fucking Guns N' Roses as it gets. There's no fixes, no fucking bullshit." [Metal-is.com, September 8, 2000]

Slash: "[Being asked if he was happy with the result]: I had to be. I was there for the whole thing. A lot of people think (it's) over-produced, or over-mixed; that's what I heard. No, that's what the band sounded like. I was surprised, I didn't know the band was that good!" [KNAC.com, October 2000]

Slash: "I had a big role. I hired the original mixing guy, and I sat in on the mix to make sure it was honest and accurate, and got across that, yeah, we were actually that good. I'm very proud of that record. I was raised on live albums back in the '70s, when if you didn't have any money, you had to beg borrow or steal the live records, because they were the ones that had all the cool songs on them." [Nude as the News, March 20, 2001]

Slash: "I stand behind it proudly. It's the best fuckin' live record released in years. I think the last good live album I heard was Aerosmith's Live! Bootleg [1978]. Not many bands put out live records anymore. When I first got into listening to rock & roll before I even started playing guitar, I used to buy live records because I couldn't afford to purchase a band's entire catalog. I figured the best way to hear a band would be through a live album. So Live Era '87-'93 was really important to me. I really didn't know we were even that good a band until I heard the live stuff." [Classic Rock Revisited, July 2001]

Matt: "[I played on] 21 out of 23 [tracks] actually. None of those songs were recorded before 1991. So that album, saying 87 to 93 is a complete farce. There are two songs on that album recorded before 1990. But the rest of it was 1991, 1992. The big tour that we did. All of that record was recorded then. At three shows specifically... Joe Robbie Stadium, some of that stuff came from Tokyo and I believe the show in Paris, and the Patience track on that album was actually from a board tape. Recorded by our soundman, who passed away, called Dave Care. He recorded that. But we did not have a version on tape that was any good. But I wasn't involved in that record." [The Lost Rose, December 10, 2001]

Slash: [Discussing the various mistakes] "Now you have to be a really fuckin' fanatic to find some of this shit. But, originally, we had guitars going in the wrong direction. I said, "There's no left-handed players in this band!" I mean, it was really that green. I was looking at the picture of the Tokyo Dome in the CD sleeve, and I was going, 'I could've sworn the red tapestry was on the other side of the Dome.' But it's been a long time, so I let it go. Someone got a magnifying glass and found out that Marlboro and Coca-Cola signs were spelled backwards [laughs]. And I was like, 'I knew the blue tapestry was on my side of the stage!' Other than that, there's this picture of Axl that's the other way; someone brought to my attention that his tattoo is on the other side of his body. But the only problem I could relate to was which direction the guitar necks were going. Other than that, everything else is flyers from the old days, most of which I made. I remember poster-boarding those things all over the place when we were doing gigs, and going out and handing them out [laughs]. But the main problem on the first version of the live record was that the sequence was backwards. And when it came out-800,000 of them went out-Disc 1 was Disc 2, and Disc 2 was Disc 1. And then there was a loop on 'Paradise City,' where it just kept saying, 'Las Vegas.' [Laughs] And I found out about it when I was in Miami. I get this phone call, and I'm like, 'You're kidding me!' A one-in-a-million shot that that would ever happen, and it happens to us [laughs]. But it is a collector's item, because when they made the new one they changed the new cover around a little bit, so anybody who has the old one, hold on to it. [Player Magazine (Japan), March 2000]

Axl: "It's a farewell to that [era]. It was something we wanted to give to the public in a way of saying farewell. It was a very difficult thing to do, as listening to it and the people involved... [it] wasn't the most emotionally pleasant thing to do. […] For me, when I hear certain things on the "Use Your Illusion" tour, I... on that record, it's... since I'm in it, I can hear a band dying. I can hear when Izzy was unconsciously over it. I can hear where the band was leaning away from what Guns N' Roses [had] originally been about." [MTV, November 8, 1999]

Slash: "This live album closed the chapter." [BURRN! Magazine, 1999]

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40 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

Bryn Bridenthal (Geffen/GnR publicist): "Axl can only do one thing at a time. When he focuses, he really focuses well, but he sometimes can't see outside the periphery of his laser." [Rolling Stone, November 14, 1998]

interesting. I can see how Axl might operate in this way. Personally, I think Live Era was a missed opportunity. I've listened to it a lot when it came out (bought it in 1999) so I have fond memories connected to it, but I think they should have spent more time to pick better performances from superior shows. 3 tunes from Tokyo '92? idk.

also Slash kept using the word "honest" but the shows didn't sound like that. Nightrain from Vegas didn't need Axl rerecording one octave higher. Sounds cool, but that wasn't the original performance.

and what Matt said about the Adler years not really being represented is a valid point imo. '87-'93 is kinda misleading. I'm sure some people worked hard to complete the project, but as far as live albums go, it wasn't great imo and Gn'R sounded much rawer than what Live Era ended up being. I agree with Slash it could've been huge if they were still together and promoted it/supported it with a tour.

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9 hours ago, Blackstar said:

Quotes about the making of Live Era, taken from the related chapters of the history section at a-4-d.com (not made public on the site yet):

---------------------------

Mike Clink: "The [live] material is sitting in the can. Axl will be the one to make the [live] record happen ... it's all in the planning stages now." [Rolling Stone, November 14, 1998]

Bryn Bridenthal (Geffen/GnR publicist): "Axl can only do one thing at a time. When he focuses, he really focuses well, but he sometimes can't see outside the periphery of his laser." [Rolling Stone, November 14, 1998]

Slash's Official Fan Site: "Guns N'Roses will deliver a live album to fans in November! The album will most likely be a double one with 23 or 24 songs. Several different concerts were chosen, so that all the band incarnations from 1987 to 1992 could be included. SLASH did not do the selection, only the mixing. He told the people involved to bring what they had, and he and Andy Wallace would mix it. SLASH wasn't interested in going through the various versions of a song looking for the best one. All band members were in on the album in one way or another. Old songs like "Sweet Child O'Mine", "Welcome to the Jungle", "November Rain", "Estranged", "Mr. Brownstone", and the audience-participation song and only cover, "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" will all be a part of it. SLASH said that "Bad Apples" would be there, too. The shows used were Tokyo, Mexico City and Las Vegas." [Snakepit.org, July 1999]

Andy Wallace: "It definitely has a live feel, but it's well-recorded and well-played. They were great live and had a lot of concerts to work from." [Rolling Stone, September 2, 1999]

Tom Maher (Slash's manager 1995-2000): The guys started fooling around with this a few years ago, seeing if there was anything worth releasing. [...] Once the merger [between Interscope and Geffen Records] was over they started working on it again, and the guys sent tapes back and forth between the different camps. [...] I think Slash got involved because it's been so long since they had a record out. When you listen to these tapes, you just go, 'Oh man, they were a really good band.'" [Music News of the World, October 16, 1999]

Axl: "Del James worked for a couple of years off and on going though every single show we did on DAT tape from the "Use Your Illusion" tour and then every available tape, and finding tapes, and finding people that have recorded things, so he could have in his mind what was recorded best from the entire time Guns N' Roses was together. There were a lot of difficulties where things weren't... when they were recorded, when they were fully recorded to 24, 48 tracks, it wasn't recorded that well at times, and so it took a long time to find what tracks were available to use, because we had never officially recorded a show to make a live album." [MTV, November 8, 1999]

Slash: "Believe it or not, it's still a very mutual effort. All things considered, it's as close as we ever got. […] I have a standard for live records, because when I was a kid, I didn't have a lot of money, so rather than take my chances on buying a whole record based on songs that I liked or on hearsay about a great band, I'd always buy the live record. I think that's what established in my own subconscious what it was supposed to sound like. [...] And when I heard this one [Live Era], it was like very little post-production work -- almost none, because there's no one that's going to show up to do it! [Laughs] It's very honest, and it's like, 'What a f---ing bad ass band. It's one of the best live records I've ever heard. I'm proud of it.'" [Rolling Stone, October 1999]

Duff: "Let me explain this. At first Geffen Records was bought up. Axl, Slash, and I were still partners of GN'R. Seagram was buying up everything and put them together. Contract, master tapes, everything. I still had one live album to release in that contract. I had the tape in my hand, but I was expected that somebody will use the right. And now is the time. That's great. Me and Andy Wallace were in the studio and mixed the album every day in last August. He is great. Slash called me up and asked me how the sound like, because he was busy working on his record. This album is supposed to be sent to Axl. It's funny thing that guys from 'Universal/ Interscope' or something said they won't release the album unless I decide the title of the album. I said that's fine. I said 'You are the people who want to release the album.' But they were giving me mental pressure. [...] I told Izzy to check out mixing. 'You are in that album also. Come check it out.' He said, 'I might as well check it.'" [Burrn! Magazine (Japan), December 1999]

Slash: "Well, the concept of the live record came up and, from a business point of view, I know it was the record company trying to fill the quota for the simple fact that there's been no new, original material from the band since we all broke up. But as far as the 'band of old' is concerned, I'm always there to make sure that at least somebody's paying attention so things don't get messed up. Back then, we only had mobile [recording] trucks at certain shows, and we had some board tapes from '87 - like from when we played at the London Marquee, which was one of our first road trips that we ever took. So we just picked out like an average night's set list-those certain songs that we played all the time. [...] Once that was done, rather than sit there and analyze each individual take of a particular song, I just said, 'Just grab this song, this song, and this song from whatever shows you feel like,' because I wanted it to be as honest [a representation of the band] as possible. And I've never listened back to anything we've ever done after it was recorded and mixed, but [after listening to the tapes], I realized how good the band was. For the most part, it's one of our almost three-hours-long shows, just assembled from different places and different years. [...] I know there's three [songs from the Tokyo 1992 shows], but I don't know which ones they are. We didn't put any details on [the CD]. I know there are songs that were recorded in Las Vegas, Minneapolis, England, Japan, but I don't know which ones. There's a photo inside [the CD sleeve] from Tokyo Dome too." [Player Magazine (Japan), March 2000]

Anonymous source: "It was all very odd. Slash and Duff would get together and work on it, and Axl would be sent CDs. He never came to the studio when they were there. It was done in shifts." [Rolling Stone, May 11, 2000]

Slash: "[The album is] not pretty, and there are a lot of mistakes. But this is Guns N' Roses, not the fucking Mahavishnu Orchestra. It's as honest as it gets. All the other bands in the mid Eighties were trying to have Top 40 hits—even bands like Motley Crue. We didn't care about that. We just wanted to kick some ass." [Guitar World, January 2000]

Slash: "Even though I wasn’t in the band anymore, I was there for the mixing, just to make sure it was as honest a representation of GNR live as I thought it should be." [The Boston Globe, August 4, 2000]

Slash: "As far as I'm concerned, the cool thing about it was that it sounds good and it's real. Everything they did after that was between Ax and Interscope and all the kind of s--t, as far as shoving it down the toilet [=not promoting it properly] is concerned. It would have been great if Guns, at that particular point in time, was together and we were touring. That album would have been amazingly huge but there was no reality to that so I mean, how to work a Guns N' Roses record when the band's not together and Axl's on some trip-- I can't really give you an answer." [Toronto Sun, August 14, 2000]

Slash: "The live record was cool. It was one of those things that came out of nowhere and I got involved with it because, regardless of any kind of, you know, rumoured animosity having to do with myself and the Guns guys, that's still my family, that’s where I came from. So when I heard that that was going to happen, I got into the whole mixing of it and all that kind of stuff. I was surprised we were as good a band as we were! (laughs) I was sort of amazed! But it's a really good honest representation of our shows. That's like about as in-your-face, blatant fucking Guns N' Roses as it gets. There's no fixes, no fucking bullshit." [Metal-is.com, September 8, 2000]

Slash: "[Being asked if he was happy with the result]: I had to be. I was there for the whole thing. A lot of people think (it's) over-produced, or over-mixed; that's what I heard. No, that's what the band sounded like. I was surprised, I didn't know the band was that good!" [KNAC.com, October 2000]

Slash: "I had a big role. I hired the original mixing guy, and I sat in on the mix to make sure it was honest and accurate, and got across that, yeah, we were actually that good. I'm very proud of that record. I was raised on live albums back in the '70s, when if you didn't have any money, you had to beg borrow or steal the live records, because they were the ones that had all the cool songs on them." [Nude as the News, March 20, 2001]

Slash: "I stand behind it proudly. It's the best fuckin' live record released in years. I think the last good live album I heard was Aerosmith's Live! Bootleg [1978]. Not many bands put out live records anymore. When I first got into listening to rock & roll before I even started playing guitar, I used to buy live records because I couldn't afford to purchase a band's entire catalog. I figured the best way to hear a band would be through a live album. So Live Era '87-'93 was really important to me. I really didn't know we were even that good a band until I heard the live stuff." [Classic Rock Revisited, July 2001]

Matt: "[I played on] 21 out of 23 [tracks] actually. None of those songs were recorded before 1991. So that album, saying 87 to 93 is a complete farce. There are two songs on that album recorded before 1990. But the rest of it was 1991, 1992. The big tour that we did. All of that record was recorded then. At three shows specifically... Joe Robbie Stadium, some of that stuff came from Tokyo and I believe the show in Paris, and the Patience track on that album was actually from a board tape. Recorded by our soundman, who passed away, called Dave Care. He recorded that. But we did not have a version on tape that was any good. But I wasn't involved in that record." [The Lost Rose, December 10, 2001]

Slash: [Discussing the various mistakes] "Now you have to be a really fuckin' fanatic to find some of this shit. But, originally, we had guitars going in the wrong direction. I said, "There's no left-handed players in this band!" I mean, it was really that green. I was looking at the picture of the Tokyo Dome in the CD sleeve, and I was going, 'I could've sworn the red tapestry was on the other side of the Dome.' But it's been a long time, so I let it go. Someone got a magnifying glass and found out that Marlboro and Coca-Cola signs were spelled backwards [laughs]. And I was like, 'I knew the blue tapestry was on my side of the stage!' Other than that, there's this picture of Axl that's the other way; someone brought to my attention that his tattoo is on the other side of his body. But the only problem I could relate to was which direction the guitar necks were going. Other than that, everything else is flyers from the old days, most of which I made. I remember poster-boarding those things all over the place when we were doing gigs, and going out and handing them out [laughs]. But the main problem on the first version of the live record was that the sequence was backwards. And when it came out-800,000 of them went out-Disc 1 was Disc 2, and Disc 2 was Disc 1. And then there was a loop on 'Paradise City,' where it just kept saying, 'Las Vegas.' [Laughs] And I found out about it when I was in Miami. I get this phone call, and I'm like, 'You're kidding me!' A one-in-a-million shot that that would ever happen, and it happens to us [laughs]. But it is a collector's item, because when they made the new one they changed the new cover around a little bit, so anybody who has the old one, hold on to it. [Player Magazine (Japan), March 2000]

Axl: "It's a farewell to that [era]. It was something we wanted to give to the public in a way of saying farewell. It was a very difficult thing to do, as listening to it and the people involved... [it] wasn't the most emotionally pleasant thing to do. […] For me, when I hear certain things on the "Use Your Illusion" tour, I... on that record, it's... since I'm in it, I can hear a band dying. I can hear when Izzy was unconsciously over it. I can hear where the band was leaning away from what Guns N' Roses [had] originally been about." [MTV, November 8, 1999]

Slash: "This live album closed the chapter." [BURRN! Magazine, 1999]

I don't know what Slash was on about, some of the tracks on live era have been heavily edited... goes to show how much of a media man he was / is. There certainly are songs on live era that sound excellent and untouched though... but I would never think of it when I'm thinking of great live albums! 

I am not a big fan of RQ from live era, but I actually do love the outro vocal Axl overdubbed, same with used to love her... I know most people have a zero tolerance for his cleaner high voice but it sounded cool to me.

7 hours ago, Ant said:

Was Slash not aware of how much Axl tinkered with it vocally?

or is he mainly referring to raw instrumentation 

I think he was hyping something he didn't fully believe in just to get a few sales going... I could be wrong, but he said he was mixing the record so he obviously heard the raw audio and then the finished masters. So without knowing for sure, it feels like he's playing dumb.

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